Astro Photos

THIS BLOG HAS MOVED!

2011-05-02T17:30:00.003+01:00

Please note that this blog has now moved to

www.rsamuel.me.uk/astroblog

Leo Duo

2011-04-23T12:21:00.003+01:00

While I was shooting the Whale and Hockey Stick, I needed to do a meridian flip, so to give the galaxies time to properly pass the meridian, I pointed the telescope at M65 and M66 in Leo, and took 5 x 5min exposure just through the luminance filter. Normally seen with NGC3628 to make the Leo Trio, or Leo Triplet, the latter galaxy was just off-frame. M66 is on the left, M65 on the right.

Hunting a Whale with Dogs and a Hockey Stick

2011-04-23T12:04:00.006+01:00

I gave up on trying to get the collimation right on the LX200, and switched back to the ED80 for imaging this interesting grouping of galaxies that I stumbled across by accident. Situated in Canes Venatici, the large galaxy at the top is NGC4631, also known as the Whale galaxy, with NGC4627 situated just above it, and the curiously shaped NGC4656 (the Hockey Stick galaxy) in the lower left of the image. The galaxies get their unusual shapes from their mutual gravitational interaction, and would be worth imaging again with more aperture, more focal length and more time!

This image is comprised of 9 x 5min luminance frames, and 8 x 2min each of R, G and B.

M53

2011-04-22T01:04:00.005+01:00

After a little tweaking of the collimation, I pointed the Meade at M53, a lesser-known globular cluster in Coma Berenices. 12 x 5min for the luminance frames, and 12 x 2min each for R, G and B.

The collimation wasn't perfect still, so the image has probably been somewhat over-sharpened to compensate, but the colours aren't too bad!

A Sunflower in Spring

2011-04-21T19:59:00.004+01:00

M63, also known as the Sunflower Galaxy, was last night's target. Situated in Canes Venatici, it's well-place high in the sky at sensible observing times at this time of year. This was taken through the LX-200R without focal reducer, and is composed from 12 x 5min luminance and 12 x 2 min each R, G and B.

I was a little disappointed with the final result. Although I'd checked that the collimation and focus were OK before I started (or thought I had...) the stars turned out to be large, unsymmetrical blobs which clearly suggests that the focus wasn't OK! Something to look out for next time!

A Glut of Galaxies and a Great Globular

2011-04-09T11:53:00.006+01:00

Last night was one of the best opportunities I've had in a long time to do some imaging, and being a Friday, had the benefit of not having to get up for work next day!

First up is an image of a region on the border of Virgo and Coma Berenices, an area noted for the wealth of galaxies it contains. Taken through the ED80 using the Atik 314L+, this is comprised of 7 x 5min luminance and 7 x 2min each of R, G and B frames.

A number of galaxies are visible on this image. In the centre and right are the Messier ellipticals M86 and M84. In the upper left are NGC4435 and NGC4438, while just above M86 is NGC4402. The edge on spiral at the bottom is NGC4388, while above it, at the centre of the triangle with M86 and M84, is NGC4837. Just to the left of centre at the bottom is NGC4407, with NGC4425 above and to the left of it.

As the galaxy cluster reached the meridian, I moved east to M5 in Serpens, one of the biggest and brightest of the globular clusters visible from the UK. Exposure details were the same as for the galaxies. The bright star below M5 is 5 Ser, which shines at magnitude 5.04.

M94 in Canes Venatici

2011-03-20T12:31:00.004Z

To round of the evening, I took 15 x 5min frames of M94, a spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici. These were taken through a CLS filter with the moon still high, so it obscured a lot of the fine detail. The galaxy is unusual in that the bright central part is surrounded by a larger, fainter disc of material, which is only very faintly visibile in this image, and an even fainter ring. This is better shown in this image.

This seems to be a less frequently photographed galaxy than some, but would repay some further attention when the been is less obtrusive!

The Medusa Nebula

2011-03-20T12:19:00.007Z

Looking around SkyMap Pro for something to image while the nearly-full moon was high in the sky, this one, also known as Abell 21, caught my eye. Situated in Gemini, close to the border with Canis Minor, it was nicely positioned from my observatory, but at magnitude 14, was likely to be a bit of a challenge. This image, taken through theLX200R, is from 10 x 5min each of H alpha, OIII and SII. mapped to red, green and blue respectively.

It was indeed a challenge to process, and it's still not right. I'd taken some flat frames of the sky just as the sun was going down, but they didn't seem to match the image frames too well; I ended up with a dark ring around the nebula. So I ended up processing it without the flats and tried to remove the effect of the vignetting with some home-grown code. The end result is shown below.

Goodbye to Orion

2011-03-18T21:18:00.003Z

Now that we've got to mid-March, Orion is, of course, beginning to sink down in the west after sunset. The image below is a last attempt this season at capturing the splendour of the Horsehead Nebula. Starting before it was properly dark, this monochrome image, taken with the Atik through the 8" LX200R, is composed from 10 x 5min exposures through a hydrogen alpha filter.

First Quarter Moon

2011-03-13T20:01:00.003Z

It's always fun to try and photograph the moon from time to time. This shot was taken during twilight while I was waiting for it to get dark. Taken with the Atik 314L+ through the ED80, it was put together from 29 x 0.1 sec exposures through a hydrogen alpha filter, used for the luminance, and 10 x 0.005 sec through R, G and B filters for the colour. The frames were originally aligned, stacked and sharpened in Registax, then combined with final tweaking in ImagesPlus.

M81 and M82

2011-03-02T21:18:00.004Z

Well it's only taken the best part of a month to do this! L, R and G frames were taken on 12th February, but tonight I was at last able to grab the blue frames during a break in the clouds to finish the image. Taken through the ED80 with the Atik, this is made up from 12 x 5min exposures through a CLS luminance filter, and R, G and B filters. I hope to be able to add some Ha to bring out some more detail in M82 next time the weather affords an opportunity.

M81 and M82

2011-02-08T22:25:00.003Z

Just before the clouds rolled in I managed to grab a single 5min luminance frame of M81 and M82. I shall look forward to having another go at this pair soon, and see how much more I can get out of it with a couple of dozen frames!

The Cone Nebula

2011-02-08T22:14:00.003Z

This one's been a bit of a disappointment really Taken across the last two evenings using the ED80/314L+ combination, it's been put together from 20 x 5min H-alpha, 12 x 5min luminance (CLS filter), and 12 x 2min each of R, G and B filters. Despite some faairly heavy processing, it's still manged to be quite noisy, and lacking in detail. Back to the drawing board with the processing tools, I think!!

M78 in Orion

2011-01-30T15:44:00.004Z

Continuing the tour of Orion, here is an image of the bright reflection nebula M78. M78 is actually the nebula just below centre; above that is another reflection nebula, NGC2071, while to the right of M78 is NGC 2067. Taken through the ED80 with the Atik 314L+, this image was put together from 30 x 5min luminance frames taken through an Astronomik CLS filter, with the colour being added from 15 x 2 min each of R, G and B, binned 2x2.

I have quite a lot of light pollution due south, and although the CLS filter helped a lot, it didn't remove all the effects of the light, so this needed some careful processing. HOwever, the dark dust lanes running through the region are clearly visible.

The Orion Nebula

2011-01-18T22:45:00.003Z

No winter season would be complete without an image of the Orion Nebula, and what better time to do it when there's a full moon close by in Gemini!

Taken through the ED80 with the Atik and narrowband filters, this image was composed from 12 x 5min H-alpha (mapped to green), 11 x 5min OIII (blue) and 11 x 5min SII (red). Although the central core of the nebula is overexposed - and it's almost impossible to avoid without some fancy Photoshop work on compositing frames of different exposure times - there's still a pleasing amount of detail present in the faint out reaches of the nebula, thanks to the hydrogen alpha filter.

The Delights of Orion

2011-01-10T10:10:00.005Z

With two clear nights this weekend, I couldn't resist trying my hand at two of Orion's best known objects, the iconic dark Horsehead Nebula (B33) and the Flame Nebula (NGC2024). These two fit nicely in the field of view of the 80mm refractor with the Atik attached, and the first image below was composed from 15 x 5min exposures through H alpha, SII and OIII filters, mapped to red, green and blue respectively. Also visible just below centre is the reflection nebula NGC2023.

Switching scopes to the LX200R with x0.63 focal reducer, I closed in on the Horsehead, and acquired this H alpha image by combining 20 x 5min frames.

A Christmas Crab

2010-12-26T16:31:00.004Z

Last night was the first chance I've had in what's seemed like ages to get out into the observatory and do some imaging - so what if it was Christmas Day!

I chose to have another attempt at the Crab nebula, which I tried briefly withthe ED80 a while ago. On this occasion, I used the Atik on the 8" LX200R, with Baader narrowband filters. I took 12 x 5min exposures through each filter, and combined them using the Hubble palette (red=S, green=H alpha and blue=OIII) in ImagesPlus. I could really have done with taking some flats; they don't seem to be needed with the ED80, but the long dew shield I have on the LX makes a difference, and I've tried to process out the gradient caused by the shield, with partial success.

Narrowband Rosette

2010-12-09T19:59:00.004Z

The Rosette Nebula in Monoceros has long been a favourite object of mine, and ever since I bought the Atik, I've wanted to try imaging the Rosette in narrowband; last night, I got my chance! The image below is from 10 x 5min each of Ha (mapped to red), OIII (green) and SII (blue), taken through the ED80, and it shows some nice detail in the structure of the nebula.

Monochrome Pleiades

2010-12-08T21:44:00.002Z

Tonight's the first chabce I've had in the last month to get out and do some photography. While waiting for the Rosette nebula to rise sufficiently high, I thought I'd have a quick go at M45, the Pleiades. Taken through a CLS filter with the Atik 314L+ on the ED80, this is a composite of 20 x 1min exposures. The image is just in monochrome because I had the narrowband filters in the wheel. The next step will be to add some colour!!

IC410 - A Nebula in Auriga

2010-11-11T20:14:00.005Z

Going by the snappy title of IC410, this nebula in Auriga is close to the larger, better known, Flaming Star nebula (IC405). This image, taken with the Atik 314L+ through the ED80, is comprised of 12 x 5min exposures through each of Ha, OIII and SII filters, mapped to RGB using the Hubble palette. Processing of the images was performed using ImagesPlus, ad the final image was completed in Photoshop. The cluster close to the centre is NGC1893, and worthy of note, just above the centre of the image, are the "tadpoles".

The Witch's Broom

2010-10-28T19:12:00.003+01:00

Appropriately enough, with Halloween just a couple of days away, here's a shot of NGC6960, also known as the Witch's Broom or the western Veil Nebula in Cygnus. Taken through narrowband filters using the ED80, it's made up from 4 x 10min exposures through Ha, OIII and SII filters. As with so many objects, it would benefit from more exposure time; maybe I'll get round to it one of these days!

Sunset over the English Channel

2010-10-27T23:03:00.003+01:00

We've just got back from a couple of days on the south coast near Brighton. After a gloriously sunny day on Monday, we got back to our hotel room, which overlooked the sea, and I got some shots of a spectacularly colourful sunset as the sun sank below the horizon. I thought I'd share this one, taken on a Canon EOS400D with a 75-300mm IS zoom lens at 300mm an exposure of 1/250s at f/13.

IC1318

2010-10-27T22:43:00.003+01:00

This is an image of part of the IC1318A, one of the nebulae that comprise the Gamma Cygni complex in Cygnus, shot through the ED80 using narrowband filters. In total, 20 x 5min Ha frames (mapped to red), 5 x 5min SII frames (mapped to green) and 5 x 5min OIII frames (mapped to blue) were taken and combined.

The Crab Nebula

2010-10-24T10:58:00.002+01:00

I thought I'd try the Crab last night through the ED80, as the camera was already attached to it. I was expected a fairly small image, and sure enough, that's what I got! However, it's encouraged me to have another go with the LX200 before long!. This was taken using the narrowband filters - the full moon wasn't very far away - and the colours have been mapped using the Hubble palette of red=SII, green=Ha, blue=OIII. 10 x 5min though each filter.

NGC1499, The California Nebula

2010-10-21T19:02:00.004+01:00

Last night, the nearly-full moon was so bright I couldn't make out anything in the sky except the brightest stars, so it was time to put the narrowband filters back in the filterwheel. I chose to have a go at the California nebula in Perseus, a big bright nebula that's long been a favourite of mine. This image of the central part of the nebula was composed from 14 x 5min subframes through each of Ha (mapped to red), OIII (green) and SII (blue) filters. There was no OIII emission visible at all; there was a hint of SII, apparent in the image as a purplish tint in the brighter regions. The picture was taken with the Atik 314L+ through the ED80, and processed with a combination of ImagesPlus and Adobe Lightroom.

The Little Dumbbell, M76

2010-10-11T23:23:00.003+01:00

Also known as the Cork Nebula, according to SkyMap Pro, this small planetary nebula is located close to the point where the constellations of Perseus, Cassiopeia and Andromeda meet. This is an LRGB shot made up from 9 x 5 min luminance frames, and 8 x 2.5min RGB frames (binned 2x2), taken through the ED80.

It's difficult to pick out much detail in the nebula at this scale. I'll have to try this one again through the LX-200, and perhaps with narrowband filters to help minimise the effects of light pollution that I was seeing to some extent while processing this image.

Comet 103P Hartley - this time in colour!

2010-10-11T21:25:00.003+01:00

I tooks some more frames of comet Hartley tonight, and processed them slightly differently from usual. The images were all 1min exposures, 10 taken through each of R, G and B filters. All the images were aligned on the nucleus of the comet, rather than on stars, and then the three lots of colour images were combined separately, before creating the colour image from the individual colour layers. This is why the star trails look a little odd! Nevertheless, the green colour of the comet shows up clearly.

Images were taken through the ED80 with the Atik 314L+.

Comet 103P Hartley

2010-10-05T20:50:00.003+01:00

Just a quick look at Hartley - this image is comprised of 20 x 30sec exposures captured on the Atik 314L+ with CLS filter through my Equinox ED80, and then aligned on the comet's nucleus prior to stacking. There's clearly significant movent of the comet even over the 20 minutes or so it took to capture the images.

The Double Cluster

2010-10-05T20:44:00.003+01:00

Last night was the first opportunity I've had for a while to take any photos, and after trying to capture 103P Hartley, I swung a couple of degrees over to the Double Cluster. Also taken through the ED80, and without autoguiding, this is composed of 20 x 30sec luminance frames through an Astronomik CLS filter, and 20 x 20sec RGB frames, binned 2x2. NGC884 is the cluster on the left, NGC869 is on the right. The red stars in the image stand out very clearly!

M15

2010-09-13T20:10:00.004+01:00

This is a quick shot of M15, the bright globular cluster situated in Pegasus, taken last night in the brief space between the sky clearing and bedtime. It was taken with the Atik 314L+ through the LX200R with x0.63 focal reducer. 20 x 60 second luminance frames were taken along with 20 x 30 seconds, binned 2x2, for R, G and B.

Jupiter

2010-09-04T12:06:00.003+01:00

Jupiter, king of the planets, is well-placed around midnight at the moment. The picture below was taken using the LX200R with x2 Barlow, and was captured using a ToUcam Pro; around 2000 frames from the .avi were processed in Registax to give this image. The object to the left of the planet is its moon Io.

Uranus and its moons

2010-09-01T19:29:00.003+01:00

As Uranus is so easy to find at the moment, just to the west of Jupiter, I decided to have a look and see just what could be picked up with the Atik. The shot below is a monochrome image taken through the CLS filter on the LX200R, and is comprised of 4 x 1min frames stacked and processed. I was pleased to see the moons Oberon, Titania and Umbriel clearly visible, with Ariel just visible on the northern edge of the glare from the planet. The remaining major moon, Miranda, was situated between Umbriel and the planet, lost in the glare. I'll have to try this one again with some RGB filters!

M57, The Ring Nebula

2010-09-01T19:25:00.002+01:00

The Ring Nebula is one of the best known deep-sky objects, but that didn't stop me trying to image it last night! This is composed of 3 x 10min frames each of Ha, OIII and SII, taken on the LX200R without focal reducer, and was put together using the Hubble palette of R=SII, G=Ha, B=OIII.

Cocoon Nebula

2010-08-31T19:30:00.003+01:00

Another nebula, taken in narrowband, this time the Cocoon Nebula, IC5146, in eastern Cygnus, close to the border with Lacerta. As I didn't have a lot of time, this was compsed of just 5 x 10min Ha, and 3 x 10min SII, each binned 2x2, taken through the LX200R with x0.63 focal reducer; there was very little evidence of OIII emissions on this object. The color mapping was R=Ha and G=B=SII.

The Eastern Veil

2010-08-30T12:48:00.003+01:00

Last night I fancied a go at imaging the Veil Nebula. I knew that with the camera/telescope combination I had set up. I was only going to get a fragment of it captured, so I just pointed in the general direction of the Eastern Veil, NGC6992, and imaged what I ended up with!

This shot is taken with the ATik 314L+ through the LX200R with 0.63 focal reducer. It was just 5 x 10min of Ha, and 4 x 10min of OIII, combined so that R=Ha, G=mean of Ha and OIII, B=OIII. It clearly needs more exposure time, and this was one of the few occasions I've had with this camera where flats would have been useful - particularly for the OIII frames, Nevertheless, some nice detail is visible.

The Bubble Nebula

2010-08-25T20:26:00.003+01:00

As a second attempt at narrowband imaging I had a go at the Bubble Nebula, NGC7635, which is located in Cassiopoeia, close to the border with Cepheus. For this shot through the LX200R with f/6.3 focal reducer, I took 4 x 10min frames using Ha, OIII and SII filters, then combined them all with red=Ha, green=SII and blue=OIII. The nebula clearly emits principally at the Ha wavelength, but there is some presence of both OIII and SII visible as well.

A Narrowband... Dumbbell!

2010-08-19T20:33:00.004+01:00

I've just acquired Baader OIII and SII filters to go with the 7nm Ha filter I already had, and grabbed a few minutes of clear sky last night to try them out. I know I've spent a bit of time on M27 recently, but as it was high in the sky, and nice and bright, I thought I'd give it a shot. The first image is one that was created using just 2 x 2min exposures with each filter, and then combining them using the Hubble palette: R=SII; G=Ha; B=OIII.

There's virtually no SII response from M27, hence the blue-green colouration. Another common way of displaying narrow band images is to use Ha for the red channel, OIII for the blue channel, and an average of Ha and OIII for the green channel. This gave the following image:

This doesn't, of course, show any more detail, but the colours are perhaps not quite as harsh. Not too bad given the very limited exposure time; I'm looking forward to spending long winter evenings with a full moon high in the sky taking images of faint nebulae!

More Dumbbell

2010-07-19T20:15:00.003+01:00

I shouldn't have really, because it's such a common subject, but I couldn't resist another go at M27. This is an RGB image through the ED-80, comprised of just 5 x 2min each of R, G and B frames, processed in ImagesPlus, with a couple of small diffraction spikes added using Noel Carboni's Photoshop actions.

Not too shabby really, considering it's just 10 minutes exposure for each colour :-)

The Eagle Nebula in H alpha

2010-07-19T20:04:00.003+01:00

Having had some success with M17, I thought I'd try and have a go at M16, which is just to the north of M17. They're both in quite a difficult region of the sky for me in some respects - both low down, and once they've passed the meridian the wall of the observatory starts to get in the way! So this image is a composite of just 9 x 5min exposures through the hydrogen alpha filter, prcessed as ever with ImagesPlus. I'm really quite pleased with it, given the small amount of effort that went into it; plenty of detail, and the Hubble-famous Pillars of Creation are clearly visible in the centre.

And is it just me - or does this look a lot like the Orion Nebula?!!

M17 Revisited

2010-07-15T20:17:00.004+01:00

During a break in the clouds last night, just before bedtime, I was able to acquire 9 x 5min exposures of M17 through a 7nm Baader hydrogen alpha filter. These were combined with the data from last weekend to produce the image shown below.

I'd been pleasantly surprised by the image I'd got without the H alpha, but I'm still being astonished by how much more detail the H alpha filter brings out in these nebulae. In particular, the emission nebulae IC4706 and IC4707 are now much more clearly visible on the right hand edge of the image.

M17, The Omega Nebula...

2010-07-10T11:38:00.003+01:00

... also known as the Swan Nebula and the Horseshoe Nebula. The shot below was taken last night while the nebula was about 20° above the horizon with the bright lights of Royston, about five miles away, directly below. It was taken with the Atik 314L+ through the ED80, and is a composite of 7 x 2min each of luminance (through an Astronomik CLS filter) and R, G and B, Processing was done in ImagesPlus. Considering the amount of light pollution there was, I think the CLS filter has done an excellent job of eliminating it. The next time I get chance, I'll see if I can get some hydrogen alpha frames to go with it.

Crescent Nebula Revisited

2010-06-17T21:42:00.005+01:00

While staying up late last night to try and get a glimpse of Comet McNaught, I had another go at the Crescent Nebula, NGC6888. The first shot is just the H alpha information, a stack of 10 x 5min exposures through the ED80. Although it wasn't properly dark, there's still a goodly amount of imformation to be teased out of the image.

I then captured 3 x 5min each of RGB, binned 2x2, and used these frames to add some colour information. In the image below, the H alpha image was also used as the red component. I found I did have to back off on stretching the luminance frame, as the resulting colour image was very noisy and not at all nice - I suspect I need better quality colour frames, and more of them, to do it justice.

I did get a glimpse of the comet, by the way, through binoculars. Unfortunately, it was do low down in the northern sky - as well as being almost hidden by the house next door - for me to be able to image it.

North America Nebula

2010-06-05T12:37:00.005+01:00

At this time of year, as it never really gets dark, it's best to keep to the brighter DSOs - at least that's my excuse! Included in this post are two views of part of the North America Nebula, taken through the 80mm f/6 Equinox with the Atik 314L+. It's a stack of 12 x 5min frames through a Baader 7nm Ha filter, and shows a lot of detail in the nebula.

I then took 6 x 1min each RGB frames, binned 2x2 to add colour. The colour image is perhaps less successful, mainly because of the blue haloes around the brighter stars; images through the blue filter were noticeably more bloated than through the red and green.

Crescent Nebula, NGC 6888

2010-05-28T18:01:00.005+01:00

Last night I decided to have a quick hour's picture-taking before bedtime, As the nearly full moon, was successfully illuminating the entire night sky, which wasn't that dark anyway, the only sensible option was to try some imaging using the Baader 7nm H-alpha filter. The target I chose was the Crescent Nebula, NGC6888, in Cygnus. The shot below is a composite of 8 x 5min exposures; for colour, I took 3 x 1min each R, G and B - not enough, but it was getting late! - but I then used the combined H-alpha frame as the red channel, as well as the luminance channel, with the G and B frames. It was taken through the LX200 at f/10, which is clearly too long a focal length to get it all in.

I will have another go at this one later in the season, when the nights are a bit longer. I'll also need to use the focal reducer to get it all in; the extra photons per pixel will also help to get a brighter, clearer image.

Two views of the Dumbbell

2010-05-23T12:57:00.005+01:00

Last night's target was M27, the Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula. This is a much photographed object, because it's so big and bright, but this was the first time I'd had a go with the Atik. This image is taken from 10 x 2min luminance exposures through the CLS filter, and 10 x 1min each for RGB. It was taken through the LX200 without the focal reducer attached.

At the end of the session I decided to try a shot through the hydrogen alpha filter, and took a single 5min exposure. I used this as the luminance frame, along with the RGB frames from above, and the result is shown below, and gives a slightly different perspective on the structure of the nebula.

Moon Shot

2010-05-22T18:24:00.003+01:00

Last night was a bit hazy, so I decided to have a quick look at the moon. I took the focal reducer of the LX200. The image below was captured on the Atik through the red filter, and is a stack of 20 x 0.02sec exposures processed in Registax 5.

The image shows Mare Serenetatis, with the crater-within-a-crater Posidonius in the centre of the image. The crater Archimedes is right in the middle of the left hand edge of the image, with Aristillus just above and to the right. The lunar Appenines, Montes Appeninus, run up the picture just to the right again.

Yet Another Globular...

2010-05-13T20:06:00.007+01:00

Last night was another lovely clear night, so I decided to have a go at imaging M5 in Serpens. This is a globular cluster that's every bit as big and bright as M13 in Hercules, but seems to be less well known, perhaps because of its less favourable declination from these latitudes.

This image, taken with the Atik 314L+ through the LX200R with 0.63x focal reducer, is made up from 12 x 5min luminance exposures through the CLS filter, and 12 x 2min exposures of R, G and B to add the colour.

It was starting to get a little late by the time I'd finished, so I decided to see what the camera could do with two other Messier objects, the famous Ring nebula M57 in Lyra, and open cluster M29 in Cygnus.

The M57 images used just 2 x 1min luminance frames, and 1 x 1min each for RGB. I think it came out impressively well, all things considered!! M29 used just a single 1min luminance frame.

A very quick look at M81

2010-05-12T21:28:00.003+01:00

I spent some time last night getting everything set up - aligning the 'scope, finding the target, and getting PhD up and running. It's always more difficult with objects at high declination as they tend not to move too much, which makes getting a good guiding calibration tricky. Anyway, I'd just got it ready when - the computer crashed!! I really couldn't face setting everything up from scratch, as it was getting late, so I just shot 14 x 15 second exposures of M81 through the CLS filter with no guiding.

It's surprising how much detail this camera can pick up from just 3.5 minutes of exposure, even on a big, bright subject like this one!

More Owl...

2010-05-10T20:07:00.002+01:00

Last night provided me with an opportunity to put a little bit more time into M97. This image is from 5 x 10min luminance frames through the CLS filter, with 5 x 2min frames of RGB, processed as ever in ImagesPlus. The additional photons have clearly made a difference from the previous attempt, but I'm sorely tempted to get a lot more!

The biggest problem with M97 over the last couple of nights has been the fact that it's been almost vertically overhead. While on the one hand, that's clearly a good thing, the downside was that despite the best efforts of a dew shield and a dew heater, I still started getting condensation on the corrector plate! Nevertheless, it's a fun object to play around with.

M97, The Owl Nebula

2010-05-07T18:20:00.004+01:00

As there was an unexpectedly clear sky last night, I thought I'd try out the Atik on a different kind of object - this time the Owl Nebula, M97, in Ursa Major. Unfortunately, condensation appeared on the corrector plate of the LX200 after only 5 exposures each of LRGB data, so this image is from only 12.5 minutes of luminance, and 5 minutes each RGB data. I'll definitely be going back for more, though, as it's come out surprisingly well!

NGC2903 in Leo

2010-05-04T20:58:00.004+01:00

NGC2903 is one of the lesser known galaxies in Leo, although it's relatively large and bright at 12.6' x 6' and magnitude 8.8. This shot was taken with the Atik through the LX200R with 0.63x focal reducer fitted, and is an LRGB composite with the luminance frames being taken through an Astronomik CLS filter to help cut down the effects of light pollution. 10 x 2.5min luminance frames were taken, along with 10 x 1min each of RGB. The images were then processed in ImagesPlus to give the final LRGB composite. The faint fuzzy just about visible on the left of the image is magnitude 15.7 galaxy UGC 5086.

Although I used flat frames for each of the filters, they didn't seem to do a particularly good job of smoothing out the background, and there's still scope for more image processing to try and improve it.

The Moon in Hydrogen Alpha

2010-04-21T20:23:00.006+01:00

One of the advantages of a hydrogen alpha filter is that images seem to be very much less susceptible to atmospheric disturbances and poor seeing, compared with a clear filter. Very much longer exposures are needed - although it was just 1 sec as opposed to 0.005 sec for the clear filter, but this result was quite impressive. Taken through the LX-200 with 0.63x focal reducer, it's a stack of 24 frames combined in Registax with just a little tweak of the wavelet sliders to sharpen it up.

Unfortunately, the moon was just a bit too big for the frame!

M101, The Pinwheel Galaxy

2010-04-21T19:48:00.005+01:00

I just had to have a go at LRGB imaging a galaxy, and try and include some H alpha in there as well. There are so many wonderful galxy pictures out there that I had to try as well. Unfortunately, it appears though I still have a lot to learn about it!!

The image below was put together from 35 x 5 min luminance exposures, 19 x 2 min R, G and B exposures binned 2x2, and 12 x 5 min H alpha exposures; R and Ha were blended together to form the red layer before creating the colour image.

I encountered a number of problems along the way. It appears that the Astronomik LRGB filters are not parfocal with the Baader Ha filter, for some reason I don't quite understand, so I had to dump a lot of out-of-focus Ha frames. Getting the colour balance right wasn't easy; the stars from the different filters were often different sizes - particularly the Ha - so there are some halo effects on the stars; and it also took me forever to do! And worst of all, there's still a horrible noisy background I need to get rid of!

Nevertheless, it should be a bit quicker and easier next time!

Leo Duo

2010-04-13T20:26:00.003+01:00

Normally, I'd have gone for the Leo Trio, but as the width of the field of the Atik isn't quite big enough, I had to leave NGC3628 out, and keep in just M65 and M66 instead!

This image used 9 x 5min luminance exposures though a clear filter, and 8 x 2min each of red, green and blue, binned 2x2, and taken through the ED80. There's some colour coming through on M66 in particular, but I still need to work out how to get some more colour into the stars, which are uniformly white! Nevertheless, I'm reasonably pleased with the result, and may add some more frames into it if I get chance in the near future.

M3 in colour

2010-04-10T13:50:00.005+01:00

I started from scratch on Thursday evening with M3, trying to make sure I had decent flats and darks, and then did a series of LRGB exposures. This picture used 20 x 2min luminance frames, and 20 x 1min each of R G and B, binned 2x2. The frames were then processed and put together in ImagesPlus.

It's not been spectacularly successful, although there's some hint of blue and yellow visible. I suspect I need a bit more practice and experimentation on a variety of objects to really get the hang of it!

First Light For A New Toy

2010-04-06T20:15:00.004+01:00

I've been promising myself I'd do it for ages, and have now finally done it - bought a "proper" CCD for taking pictures. I now have an Atik 314L+, and last night had the first opportunity of trying it out. These pictures are both simply monochrome images taken without a filter through the ED80, but I do have the filter wheel and LRGB filters, along with a hydrogen alpha filter to try out once I get the power supplies sorted out!

First up is another attempt at M101. This is a stack of 30 x 3min exposures , and it looks like it could usefully do with a lot more. One of the things I did notice about the camera was its sensitivity - while focusing and positining the image in the centre of the chip, it was possible to see where the galaxy was with just a two second exposure. Although there was no detail visible, it definitely wasn't starlike. So it looks like framing objects should be a breeze!

Just to round the evening off, I had a quick go at M3, which was nicely positioned. This is a stack of just 9 x 2min exposures, and confirms what a bright object this is. The next thing is to have a go at adding some colour into these - lots of opportunities for experimentation!!

M101

2010-03-22T20:41:00.003Z

A favourite target is always M101, one of several galaxies that has the nickname of the Pinwheel. This was taken last night and is a stack of 30 x 3min exposures at ISO800 taken through my 8" LX200R with f/6.3 focal reducer. There's still a colour cast across the image, not helped by the presence in the sky of the crescent moon, that I've been unable to remove satisfactorily, but it shows a reasonable amount of detail in the spiral arms.

More Rosette and a Cluster of Galaxies

2010-02-06T17:14:00.005Z

Last night I got chance to add a further 28 x 3min frames to the Rosette nebula image from a couple of weeks ago. This is now a stack of 70 x 3min frames altogether. I'm not sure the extra frames have added a huge amount to it, but it was never going to do too much harm to get a few more photons!

I then swung the telescope round to Leo, in the area just below Regulus which was rising in the East. There's a collection of three Messier galaxies, M95, M96 and M105 just around there, along with a coule of slightly smaller objects from the NGC catalogue, 3371 and 3373. Despite this being a stack of 36 x 3min frames at ISO800 through the ED80, there's still an awful lot of noise in the image, possibly because of how low down in the sky the region was while I was shooting. The galaxies are also pretty small, and will benefit from getting a longer focal length 'scope on them.

A Cluster and a Nebula - Part 2

2010-01-18T22:04:00.007Z

Last night was the first opportunity for a while to get out and do some photography, and I decided to have a go at one of my favourite objects, The Rosette Nebula in Monoceros. The image below is taken through the Equinox ED80 with EOS 400D and CLS filter, and is a stack of 42 x 3 min images at ISO800.

Before I started off I was a bit sceptical about how much of the H-alpha I'd be able to get, but all things considered, I'm reasonably pleased with the result. As ever, a few more frames wouldn't hurt, though!

I had a little bit of time left towards the end of the evening, so took 10 x 3min frames of M35, a bright open cluster in Gemini. A smaller cluster, NGC 2158, is visible south-east of M35.

More Crab Nebula

2010-01-08T20:20:00.004Z

I got chance the other night to add some more frames to the Crab Nebula shot, and play about with the processing a little bit more. This is now a stack of 67 x 3min exposures at ISO 800, acquired and processed with Images Plus, with final tweaking in Photoshop. The difference between this one and the previous one is substantial, and it's not just to do with the processing; the message is clear - the more photons the better!!

Sunrise over South Cambridgeshire

2010-01-08T20:17:00.003Z

Not really an astro photo , but I quite liked this shot taken at sunrise on Tuesday 5th January :-)

A Cluster and a Nebula

2010-01-04T22:34:00.007Z

Last night (3 Jan) was decidedly cold, but I wrapped up warmly to brave the elements for a couple of shots using an Astronomik CLS filter that I've had for a while, but never really been able to do justice to.

Both images were taken through the LX200R without focal reducer using my Canon 400D with CLS filter. In both cases, dark, flat and bias frames were used to calibrate the light frames in Images Plus.

First up is M38, a large, bright open cluster in Auriga. This is a stack of 25 x 3min frames at ISO 800, and although I seem to have lost colour in the stars, the background light pollution gradient that I've been plagued with recently is conspicuously absent. Focus was also slightly off, which makes the stars seem slightly more bloated than they should be.

I then had just enough time before the moon rose and washed everything out to have my first ever attempt at the Crab Nebula, M1 in Taurus. This is a stack of 30 x 3min exposures at ISO 800, and would have benefitted from more exposure time, as there's still appreciable noise visible in the image. I may try and add some more frames in the near future if I get chance.

Nearly-Full Moon

2009-12-03T18:46:00.002Z

Taken three nights ago, when the moon was so bright t hat hardly anything else was visible, this image is a stack of 100 frames taken through the Equinox, with an exposure of 1/640s at ISO100. The individual frames were then aligned and stacked in Registax, and wavelet processing used to sharpen up the image.

The Pleiades

2009-11-22T13:21:00.007Z

This should be one of the easiest objects in the sky to get a reasonable image of, but when faced with a bit of light pollution, it does make the job a little more difficult. This is a stack of 33 x 4min exposures at ISO800 taken through the ED80, and although there's quite a lot of nebulosity apparent, the background is somewhat uneven, despite my best efforts at processing out the background.

The California Nebula

2009-11-22T13:12:00.003Z

aka time to by a proper CCD camera...

NGC1499 is a fascinating, very photogenic object, and I can't resist having a go at it, but an unmodified DSLR isn't really the right tool for the job! Below is an image which is a stack of 24 x 5min exposures at ISO800 taken through the Equinox ED80. Althought the nebula is clearly there, I've had to overprocess it to get any real detail, hence the artifacts around the bright stars xi Persei (mag 4.0) on the right, and TYC 2369-193-1 (mag 6.4) on the left.

More Dumbbell!

2009-10-20T20:58:00.004+01:00

I've added a few more frames to my Dumbbell, and this image is a stack of 41 x 5 min frames at ISO800 taken through the LX200R with Meade f/6.3 focal reducer. As ever, images were acquired and processed with Images Plus, although some post processing was carried out using a custom routine written in Matlab to reduce the effect of light pollution.

M15 in Pegasus

2009-10-20T20:54:00.004+01:00

Another globular cluster, this time M15 in Pegasus. This was just a quick attempt at the end of an evening, and is a stack of 10 x 2 min images at ISO800 through the LX200R with focal reducer fitted.

The image is a bit noisy, and could usefully have a few more frames added to it, but it's a reasonable start!

M56, A Globular Cluster in Lyra

2009-10-12T21:17:00.003+01:00

M56 is situated in Lyra, close to the much better known M57 Ring Nebula, and not very far from the brighter and more famous globular cluster in Hercules, M13. This is a stack of 7 x 5min frames at ISO800 through the LX200R with focal reducer fitted, with flat field and dark frames applied using Images Plus. I'd have had a few more frames, which would have given a smoother background, had the tracking remained spot on ...

The Ring Nebula

2009-10-08T23:34:00.003+01:00

As we had the first clear night for a while tonight, I thought I'd spend some time before the moon came up on the Ring Nebula, M57. It's not something I've really had a go at before, and I'm reasonably pleased with how it came out. This is a stack 0f 25 x 200 second exposures at ISO800 through the LX200R with a Meade f/6.3 focal reducer fitted, guided with PhD.

Next time I'll try without the FR to see if I can get a better image scale.

Jupiter with Io

2009-09-29T12:58:00.003+01:00

Last night was generally a bit hazy, but Jupiter was shining brightly, although a first quarter moon wasn't far away. This image was captured through the LX200R, and is a stack of about 1600 frames which was processed in Registax 5. The "pimple" on the side of Jupiter is Io, which was just emerging from the glare of the planet.

M27, The Dumbbell Nebula

2009-09-19T15:17:00.003+01:00

As it was such a nice moon-free night - up until midnight anyway - I decided to have a go at M27. This is a crop from a stack of 15 x 2 min and 5 x 5 min exposures at ISO800 taken through the ED80.

More M31!

2009-09-19T15:12:00.006+01:00

I added a few more frames (17 x 2 min) to the previous M31 image last night, this time without the CLS filter. The combined, reprocessed image, again converted to monochrome, now looks like this:

Another M31...

2009-09-13T18:05:00.002+01:00

Over the last couple of nights I've collected some frames of M31 using an Astronomik CLS filter. In total, the image below was made from a total of 34 x 5 min exposures at ISO800 through the Equinox ED80. I haven't got the white balance sorted out yet, so I converted the final image to a greyscale image.

The North America Nebula - again!

2009-09-09T22:36:00.005+01:00

The moon was up, and washing everything out somewhat, but having got my SCT somewhat close to collimated - good enough for guiding, at least - I thought I'd have a play around with NGC7000 again.

This is a combination of 13 x 2 min and 6 x 4 min exposures at ISO 800, taken through the Equinox ED80, captured and processed with Images Plus and Adobe Lightroom.

A bit more exposure would have helped, but I was quite pleased by how much detail I was able to tease out of it, nevertheless. Guiding worked flawlessly, possibly helped by the fact that I'd spent a bit of time improving my polar alignment.

Full Moon

2009-09-05T12:15:00.003+01:00

The moon was a bit bright last night, and obliterated pretty much anything else of interest, so here's a quick shot of the full moon.

20 x 1/200 second shots at ISO100, stacked in Images Plus, and wavelet processing applied with Registax 5.

Who needs a telescope, anyway!

2009-08-19T22:19:00.005+01:00

After a long break from the blog, during which I've got a permanent observatory put together, had lots of collimation woes with the SCT (still not resolved), and got married (!), I've finally got round to taking a few more pictures, now that the nights are getting a little bit darker. We've also had one or two clear ones!!

At the moment, I have my Equinox 80mm refractor mounted on the EQ-6 side-by-side with my Canon. All the pictures below have been taken over the last few nights with either a 105mm or a 200mm lens, autoguided using the Lodestar through the telescope. It's amazing what you can pick up with just a camera lens!

First up is the Dumbell nebula, M27. This used the 105mm lens, and is a stack of 30 x 30 sec exposures at ISO 800.

Next comes M31, the Andromeda galaxy. This is a stack of 25 x 30 sec and 5 x 120 sec exposures, all at ISO800.

And finally, NGC7000, the North America Nebula. For this, I really pushed the boat out with a stack of 20 x 2 min and 5 x 5 min exposures. All those photons make a difference!

In all cases, the images were acquired and processed in ImagesPlus.

More Galaxies

2009-03-30T21:57:00.002+01:00

As last night was such another beautiful clear night, I had another go pointing the camera at the Virgo/Coma border. This time I got set up to autoguide the Canon with its 200mm lens, but although the autoguiding worked, I couldn't get long exposures working with a parallel cable, so was restricted to 30 second sub-exposures. The image below is a stack of 40 such exposures at ISO400. There was some appreciable light pollution coming from the south, which contributed to noise and banding on the image. My aim was also a little off... Nevertheless, I picked up three eleventh magnitude galaxies - from top left to bottom right, NGC4710, NGC4689 and NGC4659. The faintest stars visible on the image are fourteenth magnitude.

Next time, I'll try and get the parallel port connection working so I can collect a few more photons.

A Glut Of Galaxies

2009-03-25T23:25:00.002Z

I went out tonight and decided to have a go and see how many galaxies I could capture in the Virgo cluster in one wide field shot. Unfortunately, the clouds rolled in after a mere seven minutes worth of exposures!

Nevertheless, if you look closely enough it's possible to identify 18 galaxies, including eight Messier objects, for sure. I'm going to have to spend a lot more time in this region over the next few weeks!

Canon EOS400D with 200m f/2.8L lens, ISO800, mounted directly on EQ6.

Lulin and the Beehive

2009-03-05T23:26:00.004Z

I thought I'd have a go tonight at capturing Comet Lulin as it passed below the Beehive cluster (aka Praesepe or M44) in Cancer - this was despite a gibbous Moon being just 30 degrees or so away in neighbouring Gemini.

The picture below is a composite of 50 separate 30 second images taken at ISO400 using a Canon EOS 400D with a 200mm lens at f/2.8. The moon was so bright that I couldn't do 30 seconds at ISO800 - the images was just completely washed out. It's only a shame that I didn't remember to take the frames in RAW mode - so I ended up with a load of jpgs :-(

Flats and darks were applied, and subsequent processing performed using Images Plus. Images were stacked on the comet, producing the trails of the stars as the comet moved past.

How to remove the bright lights of Royston...

2009-01-21T20:53:00.006Z

Well, we finally got a clear night on Sunday, but as I was half way through rebuilding my laptop, I was unable to do any real photography, so decided to take one or two wide-field images using just the camera, with 200mm lens, mounted on the EQ6. The reason for this is that although I have a very clear south south-eastern horizon, I do have to put up with the bright lights of Royston in the distance, and I wanted to see if a gradient removal algorithm I've been working on was any good.

Below on the left is a shot of the Southern Orion region. It's a stack of 10 x 30sec exposures at f/2.8, ISO1600, and as you can see, it's very badly affected by the lights in the distance. I've been playing about with some code written in Matlab to see if I could come up with anything that would be able to model the gradient satisfactorily, and remove it, and the result is shown below. on the right. Hey presto, it works!!

It's not perfect, and still needs a bit more work, but it'll be something to do on a rainy night!

More Moon Images

2008-12-09T23:10:00.007Z

Having recently moved house, tonight was the first chance I've had for a few months to get outside and do some imaging, but of course, the brightness of the Moon was just washing out all the interesting deep sky stuff. So I had a go at the Moon, but the seeing was pretty bad, and some of the avi files I let Registax work its magic on were not of the best quality. Nevertheless, here are three of the better images.

All were taken using a TouCam through the 8" LX200R. The image of Bettinus et al. also used a 2x Barlow.

Zucchius, Bettinus and Kircher

Copernicus

Schickard

More Cygnus

2008-08-02T12:13:00.004+01:00

As we had another couple of hours of clear skies last night, I decided to capture dome more of the Cygnus region. The image below has combined the 15 exposures from Wednesday evening with another 20 from last night, and appears to have brought out a bit more detail in the areas of faint nebulosity, as expected. Total exposure time for this image is now 70 min at f2.8, ISO400.

The Glories of the Milky Way

2008-07-31T20:00:00.004+01:00

Well, after a long summer break, when it was never really dark enough to do any sort of long exposure work, I finally ventured out last night, before the clouds rolled in, to have a go at the Milky Way in Cygnus.

The image shows the North America nebula, NGC 7000 on the left, with the Pelican nebula, IC 5070 close by. Also in the image, in the lower right, is the Butterfly nebula, IC 1318. The bright star just above centre is, of course, Deneb.

The image is a stack of 15 x 2min exposures taken on an a Canon EOS400D with a Sigma 105mm f/2.8 lens at f/2.8, ISO400. The camera was guided using PhD Guiding by the Lodestar through the Equinox ED80. Images were acquired and processed using ImagesPlus 3.0, with final tweaking done in Adobe Lightroom.

M13 in Hercules

2008-05-12T00:58:00.005+01:00

At last, a half-decent image!! This is a stack of 19 x 2 minute exposures at ISO800 through the Meade LX200R. Autoguiding was done using the Lodestar through the ED80. Images were acquired and processed in Images Plus.

Just for once, the autoguiding worked flawlessly, and the end result shows it was worth the effort. Admittedly it's a relatively easy target, but it's nice to get something worthwhile for a change!

Leo Triplet

2008-05-08T20:28:00.007+01:00

Well, I'm still struggling a bit with getting autoguiding working. It was behaving itself intermittently last night while I was trying to image the Leo Triplet of M66 (lower left), M65 (lower right) and NGC3628 (top). Unfortunately, the camera was sest to take low-res jpgs, instead of raw , so the picture isn't great :-( 15 x 2min exposures @ ISO800 through the ED80.

Young moon

2008-05-06T23:40:00.002+01:00

As I was getting set up tonight, I noticed a very thin crescent moon lurking low down in the west, and managed to grab this image of it. The moon was about 32 hours old at this point. Canon 400D on ED80.

Autoguiding's working!

2008-04-23T23:15:00.005+01:00

Well, at long last I think I'm finally getting the hang of this autoguiding lark! The picture below is of M44, the Beehive cluster. It's a stack of 16 x 2min exposures taken with a Canon EOS400D at ISO800 through a 8" Meade LX200R witha a Meade f/6.3 focal reducer; autoguiding was done using a Starlight Xpress Lodestar guider through an Equinox ED80 refractor. Image acquisition and processing was performed using Images Plus 3.0.

M44 isn't a particularly interesting subject, but it's big and it's bright - good for practising on! While I type this, the same set up is imaging globular cluster M3 in Canes Venatici. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Well, while M3 was being captured, the optics on both scopes started to dew up. I ended up with 10 x 2min images which were processed to give this image. It's not as sharp as I'd like - more work on focusing required - but at least the guiding worked :-)

Copernicus

2008-04-17T07:51:00.004+01:00

Well, after a long break where both the weather and life got in the way of doing much astronomy, I got chance to go outside and have a play last night. This time of course, the Moon got in the way!!! Nevertheless, I took this shot of Copernicus (LX200R, ToUcam , Registax).

I also had a go at setting up and using the Starlight Xpress Lodestar autoguider that I recently bought. It's certainly much more sensitive than the ToUcam for this purpose, but I still didn't get the system tracking as I would have liked. More experimentation needed!

M35 and Autoguiding

2008-02-28T20:40:00.004Z

Although we've had a few clear nights recently, I haven't posted any pictures. That's because I've been try to get autoguiding working properly on my system, but I've had a lot of problems! The first time I tried a couple of weeks back on M42 (see below) it worked fine, but never since. I won't go into it all here, but after thinking it was working tonight, I set it going to image open cluster M35 in Gemini. Of course, as soon as I set it going, the guide camera lost the guide star! I ended up with this, which doesn't look to bad when shrunk down, but the close up shows the degree of trailing I was getting :-(

The faint smudge visible below and to the right of M35 is another open cluster, NGC 2158.

Equinox ED80, stack of 20 x 30s exposures, ISO800, Canon EOS 400D

Earthshine

2008-02-11T08:04:00.001Z

I spent a very frustrating evening yesterday trying to get guiding working correctly. Guide Dog, which was fine a few nights ago, refused to do the job properly, and although I got PhD Guiding working OK, the results of the shots I got were rubbish!!

So here's a quick shot of the moon, overexposed to make the earthshine visible. I always find it fascinating to be a able to see so much detail on the surface of an object that's lit only by light reflected from the earth.

Saturn and the Flame Nebula

2008-02-09T00:56:00.000Z

It's a beautiful night outside, so here's another go at Saturn. This was taken using just a TouCam through the LX200R, without a Barlow of any sort. I've found it difficult to get a good image with a 2x Barlow in place - I just tend to end up with a big fuzzy blob.

Never mind. I also tried to grab a bit of the Flame Nebula before Orion sank behind the trees at the bottom of the garden. Unfortunately there's only about 15 minutes exposure, and it definitely needs more.

M42, the Orion Nebula

2008-02-06T23:34:00.000Z

I finally got round to connecting up a dual scope set up - the 8" LX200R and the Equinox ED80 side by side. This is a shot taken through the ED80 with an unmodified EOS 400D: 12 x 2min at ISO800, captured and processed with ImagesPlus 3, then tweaked in Adobe Lightroom to bring the colour out a bit more. The setup was guided using GuideDog with a ToUcam through the LX. I'm reasonably pleased with how this one came out for a first attempt at using guiding, and I would have done more if a thick layer of dew hadn't suddenly formed on the LX!

Saturn in the mist

2008-02-04T23:05:00.000Z

I had chance tonight for my first go of the season at Saturn. Up till now, the house has been getting in the way, so I've been biding my time... Although the evening started off fairly dark and clear, by the time I got everything set up it was starting to get a bit hazy, and I struggled to get anything like a decent image. This is the best I could come up with, so I'm looking forward to some dark, clear nights over the next couple of months to get something better!

8" LX200R, ToUcam, captured with K3CCDTools, processed in Registax 4.

Clouds get in the way...

2008-02-01T07:41:00.000Z

After a night of clear skies, but very strong winds, I decided to get up early to have a go at getting a shot of the conjunction between Venus and Jupiter. However, the weather decided not to play ball, and I ended up with a band of cloud along the southern horizon. All that was visible was the moon peeking out through the cloud layer.

Orion Nebula

2008-01-30T21:31:00.000Z

Clear skies again tonight. This is shot taken with my little-used Atik 2C. The final image is a stack of 42 separate exposures of either 2, 5 or 10 seconds duration, taken through the Equinox ED80. The individual frames were then processed in Images Plus v3.
Not a great picture, but I guess it's maybe not too bad for an 8 bit camera like the Atik.

The Moon - again!

2008-01-17T21:58:00.000Z

As we had an hour of clear skies here tonight, I had another go at the moon. The first one was taken using the same settings as last night:

The one below is a close up of Copernicus taken using an Atik 2C through the ED80 with a 2x Barlow. It's a stack of 1200 frames, processed in Registax 4.

The Moon

2008-01-16T23:23:00.001Z

As there was a gap in the clouds tonight, I thought I'd have a go at a shot of the Moon through the ED80. This is a stock of 20 images shot in RAW mode on the Canon 400D at ISO100, 1/250s, converted and cropped in Images Plus 3, then stacked and sharpened in Registax 4 (the wavelet functionality is great for this) before final tweaking in Paint Shop Pro.

The second entry

2008-01-14T19:38:00.001Z

Here's a shot of M42 taken last week through my new Equinox ED80. It's a composite of 10 images taken on a Canon 400D using ISO speeds from 400 to 1600, with exposure times from 10 to 30 seconds.I'll try harder next time!

The first entry!

2008-01-14T19:24:00.000Z

I've just created the blog - now to dig out some photos!